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The Molecular Universe Proceedings IAU Symposium No The Molecular Universe Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 280, 2011 c International Astronomical Union 2011 Jos´e Cernicharo & Rafael Bachiller, eds. doi:10.1017/S1743921311024823 The Molecular Universe A. G. G. M. Tielens1 1 Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, NL-2300RA, Leiden, the Netherlands email: [email protected] Abstract. Over the last 20 years, we have discovered that we live in a molecular Universe: A Universe with a rich and varied organic inventory; A Universe where molecules are abundant and widespread; A Universe where molecules play a central role in key processes that dominate the structure and evolution of galaxies; A Universe where molecules provide convenient thermome- ters and barometers to probe local physical conditions; A Universe where molecules can work together to form such complex species as you and me. Understanding the origin and evolution of interstellar and circumstellar molecules is thus key to understanding the Universe around us and our place in it and has become a fundamental goal of modern astrophysics. This review focuses on the organic inventory and the chemical processes that may play a role in stablishing molecular complexity in regions of planet formation. 1. Introduction The field of astrochemistry is heavily driven by new observational tools that have become available over the last 20 years; in particular, space based missions that have opened up the IR and submillimeter window at an ever accelerating pace. Our progress in understanding the Molecular Universe is greatly aided by close collaborations between astronomers, molecular physicists, astrochemists, spectroscopists, and physical chemists who work together in loosely organized networks. In this review, I will sketch the progress that we have made over the last 20 years and outline some of the challenges that are facing us. The focus will be on understanding the unique and complex organic inventory of regions of star and planet formation that may well represent the prebiotic roots to life. Astrochemistry is much broader that this and key questions such as “What is the role of molecules in the evolution of the Universe ?” and “How can we use molecules to study the Universe ?” are by necessity not addressed here. Over the last twenty years, we have seen a major shift in our thinking on life in the Universe. First, ground-based Doppler and transient studies have lead to the discovery of ∼ 1700 exoplanets (and counting). Sixty of these resemble the Earth and at the end of the Kepler mission, we can expect to know some 200 terrestrial planets. Of the 1700 suspected planets, some 50 are in the habitable zone of their star and 5 of those are Earth-like. This census is very much incomplete and we are only starting to address the general architecture of planetary systems and how this compares to the Solar system, but already it is clear that planetary systems are common. Second, in biology, it has become clear that life can adapt itself to very extreme conditions. Life can thrive at very low and at very high temperatures, under very alkaline, very acidic, and very saline conditions, in very arid regions (and wet regions, duh): Extremophiles are everywhere and consequently the habitable zone of planetary systems may be quite large. Liquid water – often taken as the defining factor of the habitable zone – may also be more widespread than previously thought and moons such as Europa may have an “‘internal” ocean in which (primitive) life can be hypothesized. In the Solar system, the presence of liquid 3 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 24 Sep 2021 at 19:13:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921311024823 4 A.G.G.M.Tielens water has been established – albeit in the past – on Mars and some meteoritic parent bodies. Hence, conditions suitable for life may be widespread in the Universe. Third, the oldest preserved cells date back some 2.5 billion years and a number of possible, or perhaps even likely, indicators for the existence of microbial fossils have been found in rocks that date back to some 3.5 billion years ago. That latter date is very close to the age of the late heavy bombardment when the interaction between Jupiter and Saturn reordered the Solar system. The impacts associated with this bombardment would have sterilized the Earth (over and over again) and so this timeline would leave only ∼ 200 Myr for the emergence of the first cells on Earth. In all, these new developments have completed the Copernican/Darwinian revolution and the consensus is now that life is widespread in the Universe. With this shift in paradigm, astrochemistry and its relationship to the prebiotic roots of life have emerged as key areas of research in astronomy. This can be taken at two levels: The first question is: “What are the main reservoirs of carbon in regions of planet forma- tion ?” Or alternatively, “How and in what form was carbon delivered to planets in the habitable zone ?” Obviously, if most of the carbon is in the form of very volatile species (e.g., CO, CH4 ), then delivery has to be by cometary or icy-asteroidal bodies presum- ably during a “late heavy bombardment” phase in the assemblage of planetary systems. Alternatively, most of the carbon may be locked up in macromolecular moieties and incor- poration into planets may then occur “in-situ” during the growth of planetary embryo’s. These different reservoirs result thus in a very different history and very different carbon content of newly formed planets. The second and deeper level that we can examine in the relationship between astrochemistry and the origin of life is: “Does astrochemistry “prime” regions of planet formation for the emergence of life ?” Or phrased alternatively: “Does astrochemistry jump start life’s chemistry by delivering the right molecular build- ing blocks (e.g., amino acids) that can be readily assembled in any Darwinian pond ?” In this scenario, astrochemistry takes the place of the Urey-Miller experiment†, which actu- ally may not have been very relevant for conditions on the early Earth. We can identify a number of scenarios differing in the importance of astrochemistry for the origin of life: Did the Universe “deliver” 1) carbon which got converted into life’s building blocks on the early Earth (Urey-Miller); 2) a primed organic mix (e.g., H2 CO, HCN) which then were converted into e.g., amino acids on the early Earth; 3) specific molecules with well defined biological functions (e.g., amino acids, lipids) which were immediately assembled into cells after being dropped into Darwin’s little pond. The focus of this review is on the main reservoirs of molecular carbon in regions of star and planet formation – CO and PAHs – and the astrochemical processes that “release” this carbon and make it available for the formation of species that might be of interest from a prebiotic point of view. Much carbon may be in the form of soot particles, solid kerogen-like macromolecular structures or otherwise frozen out of active chemistry and these reservoirs are of no concern to this review except to note that if these are the reservoirs life grew from, astrochemistry has little prebiotic relevance. 2. Overview Much of the carbon in regions of star and planet formation is locked up in very stable species that do not readily partake in chemical reactions. The story of interstellar organic † In the Urey-Miller experiment, the discharge converts simple molecular feedstock in formaldehyde and cyanide that are subsequently converted into amino acids through Strecker synthesis in water. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 24 Sep 2021 at 19:13:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921311024823 The Molecular Universe 5 Figure 1. The organic inventory of the Solar System derives from a vast array of processes acting in a wide range of environments. Globally, two independent routes can be recognized. The first one builds up complex species from small radicals and starts with CO in dark clouds. Ion-molecule reactions, grain surface chemistry, and photoprocessing converts the main gaseous reservoir, CO, into complex species. The other route breaks down very complex species (e.g., PAHs) injected into the interstellar medium by stars into smaller and smaller species. Eventually, the species produced by either of these two chemical routes can become part of planetesimals and cometesimals in a protoplanetary disk environment which deliver this organic inventory to the nascent planets in the habitable zone. chemistry is therefore by necessity a story that starts with breaking the carbon out of these species. The two main molecular reservoirs are CO and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydro- carbon (PAH) molecules. Figure 1 illustrates relevant chemical routes. In dark clouds, ion molecule chemistry converts gaseous carbon into predominantly carbon monoxide. After accretion onto grains, hydrogenation reactions convert this molecule efficiently into formaldehyde and methanol as well as traces of other species in an icy grain mantle. Energetic processing of these ices by UV photons and cosmic rays can convert these molecules into more complex species, while heating by the protostar can initiate thermal polymerization reactions. The newly formed protostar will sublime these ices and fast ions in shocks can sputter some molecules into the gas phase. Subsequent ion-neutral and neutral-neutral reactions in the warm dense gas of the hot core surrounding the protostar may convert, in particular, methanol into more complex species such as dimethyl ether and methyl formate.
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